“But ye heard them. They’re gaeing tae kill him if I dinnae bring the money.”
“What money? Dae ye think that’s enough?” Rory looked towards the pouch she carried. “That’s nae enough tae kill over. Finlay must owe them a lot more. Perhaps ye dinnae know him as well as ye thought. Clearly, he was keeping something from ye, and ye dinnae owe him anything. Let us get on with what we came here tae dae, and then we can gae home. Ye will nae hae tae think about him after this.”
“I’ll never forget him,” Anne murmured, and she knew it to be true. It was one thing leaving him with a broken heart, butquite another thing to leave him at the mercy of these wolves. She couldn’t leave him to this fate, not when there was still something she could try.
“Rory, I know I hae always warned ye against getting involved in dangerous situations, but sometimes ye just hae tae dae what’s right.”
“Anne,” he said in a pleading tone, wearing a desperate look on his face.
“I’m nae gaeing tae see Murdoch. Look, Finlay’s Da must be in the camping site by now. I can gae tae him and tell him what happened, then he can help Finlay. And we might get a reward for helping him as well,” she flashed him a smile to reassure him, but Rory did not seem convinced. Still, he had spent his life doing what she asked and he was not about to break that habit now.
Anne led Rory away from the keep towards the campsite. The ground was chopped and muddy where horses and men had traipsed across it. Wooden beams had been laid out, making parts of the ground resemble the deck of a ship, but there were so many empty spaces it was hard going. Anne hitched up her skirt and tried to ignore the squelching sound underneath her feet. Rory muttered behind her, shaking his head, but she ignored it.
The campsite was filled with dozens and dozens of clans. Some had huge tents erected that were surrounded by massive wagons and strong steeds, while others had humbler camps. The air was lively with conversation, and plenty of them had fires goingwhere meat was being cooked. Smoke danced in the air and there was a festive atmosphere, as though the real party was out here rather than near the keep. Each camp had a banner unfurled, flapping in the morning breeze. Some were colorful, some had intricate designs, while others were plain. Anne looked at each of them, hoping to find one that would indicate the Ross clan, but she couldn’t remember seeing any form of insignia on Finlay’s clothes. The campsite stretched out for what seemed like miles on either side of her, and it would take hours to span the campsite.
She approached a friendly-looking man and asked him if he knew where the Ross clan was located. He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment.
“Ross clan? Cannae say I hae heard of them,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. Anne moved on to the next camp, and then the next. Unfortunately, this was the reaction she got from everyone she spoke to. They all gave her blank looks, as though the Ross clan had been conjured from thin air. She even mentioned Finlay by name, but still, nobody knew of them. There was one breakthrough when she was told that the clan she sought was a short way away, only to discover that there had been a misunderstanding and she was actually speaking to a representative of the Thrush clan. The different accents and dialects made communication difficult, and after the entire morning had passed she was forced to give up.
She looked back and forth, wondering if Finlay’s father was sitting there somewhere, thinking about his son. Finlay had said that his clan was just a small one and came from far away, so perhaps nobody knew of them.
“It’s hopeless, Anne. Let’s just head back. This is a fool’s errand,” he said.
“Saving someone from death is never a fool’s errand,” she replied, but she knew that she could not hope to ask everyone in the campsite. If the Ross clan were out there, they would just have to wait until she returned with Finlay herself. There was a spark of hope in her mind, though; if she saved Finlay from this fate then surely he could not deny her marriage. Even if his father was still angry with him, it was likely that he would be so relieved to know that his son had escaped death that he would forgive everything. Once he learned of the part Anne had played in rescuing Finlay he would be sure to bless their union, and he and Finlay might be willing to overlook the little lie she had told. After all, his life was at stake, would he really let something like that get in the way?
She had given up on the idea of marrying him, but now hope flared brightly again. She could save his life and all could be well.
She rushed back to the tavern and went up to her room. She gathered the coin she had left, as well as the coin she had stolen from Finlay. She counted it all out and it wasn’t quite enough to pay for Finlay’s debt. She would have to sell something else, both to cover the rest of the debt and to give her some more coin to cover food expenses for her and Rory. She couldn’t be left with absolutely nothing. It was with a heavy heart that she turned to Rory.
“Rory, I need yer dagger back,” she said.
Rory gasped and stepped back, reaching behind him to protect the dagger. “Nae, nae ye cannae take it away.”
“But it’s the most expensive thing we own. I need it tae help pay Murdoch.”
Rory shook his head. “This is yer mess. I said we should leave him. I said ye should never hae gotten involved with him in the first place. If ye hae just stuck with the plan, then we wouldn’t be in this situation! I never get anything I want. This is the only thing I hae ever asked for and I’m nae gaeing tae give it up for him,” Rory stamped his foot, showing his immaturity. But Anne knew he had a point. She had dragged him across the campsite and forced him to sleep elsewhere the previous night. She hadn’t been a very good sister to him at all, and she couldn’t take away the one thing that meant so much to him.
“Very well, Rory, I will find another way,” she said, and her gaze turned to the dress that had been peeled off her body the previous night. She gathered it in her arms and folded it neatly, trying not to cry as she did so.
“Wait, ye cannae dae that,” Rory said, but Anne glared at him.
“I’m gaeing tae save Finlay. This is the only way,” she said. If she had more time, then she might have been able to think of something else, but Finlay was going to die unless she paid his debt. She carried the dress with her to the market and sold it, trying to hide her emotions as the merchants examined it as though it was some rag. She tried not to think of her mother’s disappointed face as she did this. She couldn’t let Finlay die. She just couldn’t.
She took the gold she earned from the sale and turned away briskly, not wishing to reconsider her decision. She held her head up high and headed towards Murdoch’s tavern, praying that she was doing the right thing.
15
Finlay awoke from the darkness with an aching jaw, an aching shoulder, well, an aching everything. He tried to move his hands but found they were tied behind his back. He struggled against the knot, but the coarse rope bit into his skin and did not offer any glimpse of freedom. He groaned as he leaned his head against the wall. From above he could hear footsteps and laughter. He deduced that he was in the basement of Murdoch’s tavern. He closed his eyes as he remembered how Anne had come to his aid, or at least tried to. She would have been better staying away, thinking that he had deserted her after spending the night with her. At least then she could have hated him rather than pitied him, and she wouldn’t have to risk coming back here.
This wasn’t a place for women like her. He wished she knew better. He wished he had kept her at arm’s length. While he liked that she cared for him deeply, he knew that it was undeserved. No doubt she would be scurrying to find her uncle, begging him for money to save the son of a Laird. Little did she know that she was only going to be saving a scoundrel. Soon enough the truth would be out, though. When she came to pay his debt she wouldrealize what had happened and who he really was. Murdoch wasn’t going to keep the illusion going. Then she would see him for what he really was. She would know he had lied to her, and the affection she had for him would go up in flames. It had been fun while it lasted, he supposed, but he had been too greedy. He should never have come back here. He should have never let his guard down.
His throat ached with thirst and hunger gnawed in his stomach. The smell of food teased him. Shadows flickered above, and although he cried out for help, there was no reply. Either nobody could hear him, his voice muffled by the noise in the tavern or, more likely, nobody cared. He was Murdoch’s prisoner after all, and everyone in the tavern followed Murdoch’s lead. It was either that, or die.
And death awaited Finlay soon. Even if the debt was paid, well, Murdoch would find some other way to kill him.
He looked around. There were crates arranged haphazardly around the room, no doubt Murdoch’s stolen treasures. There was one small window that was too high for him to reach, and too small for him to climb through even if he could reach it. He leaned his head back, knowing there was no hope but to wait for the inevitable.
The door to the basement opened and two men came down. One was the grizzled Murdoch, a man as mean as a hound. The other was Gavin, an old friend who had been a guard alongside Finlay. Eyebrows were raised in surprise and then a brow was furrowed as Finlay recognized the familiar face. Questions about Gavin’s intentions rose in his mind.
